Cherry Creek Watershed (N. & S. Forks)

Cherry Creek, beginning as two creeks known as the North and South forks, is the largest tributary of the Middle Shuswap River. It is not a Pacific salmon spawning creek but may have been prior to the construction of Wilsey Dam at Shuswap Falls in 1929. 

Sampling Sites 2008+ (upstream to downstream)

  • North Fork (N. Fork Rd bridge)
  • South Fork (S. Fork Rd bridge) -  replaced by 1/2 Mile Cr. in and since Aug. 2018
  • North Fork (at junction) - 2010 to 2015 only
  • South Fork (at junction) - 2010 to 2015 only
  • Mid Cherry Creek (at Community Hall)
  • Lower Cherry Creek (at Sugar Lk Rd)

Click for Map

Selected Results of Sampling:

Each analyte is reported with a set number of decimal places reflecting the least precision in results returned over the years. In the attached spreadsheet the data in each cell may be more precise than its format displays. Graphs or other extractions from the data in the spreadsheet will reflect the data’s precision, not necessarily that of the display.

A grey background in a cell indicates missing data, most often because the sample was not taken, but also possibly due to a report not made available to the compiler of these tables.

Attachments: 
Office spreadsheet icon Cherry Creek E.coli & total Nitrogen spreadsheet 2010 to 2024; excluding Forks at Junction

Cherry E.Coli

  E.coli
primary contact maximum was 77, now 200 ! *
November 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 g-Mean
North Fork <1 <1 <1 1 <1 <1 31 4 1 1 3 1 2 <1 2 1 2.1
South Fork > 1/2 Mile (§) 1 <1 <1 <1 1 <1 4 <1 3 1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 1.6
Mid Cherry       <1 1 <1 9 7 3 2 26 2 8 2 <1 3 4.0
Lower Cherry 1 1 <1     1 7                   1.6
geometric Mean 1.00 1.00 <1 1.00 1.00 1.00 9.40 5.29 2.08 1.26 8.98 1.41 4.00 2.00 2.00 1.73  
August                                  
North Fork 8 2 4 8 7 7 3 2 12 2 150 1 9 8 8 11 6.1
South Fork > 1/2 Mile (§) 10 1 <1 3 6 5 5 1 6 <1 <1 <1 2 1 1 2 2.6
Mid Cherry       12 15 7 12 18 21 6 110 20 13 6 10 13 14.0
Lower Cherry 3 2 5     8 18     34 (1) ¥         8 5.7
geometric Mean 6.21 1.59 4.47 6.60 8.57 6.65 7.54 3.30 11.48 7.42 25.46 4.47 6.16 3.63 4.31 6.92  
May                                  
North Fork 1 4 27 2 <1 1 1 5 3 1 3 1 1 34 1 1 2.3
South Fork > 1/2 Mile (§) 2 6 <1 <1 1 2 3 3 2 2 1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 2.1
Mid Cherry       <1 10 8 2 10 4 6 2 126 8 11 10 1 6.7
Lower Cherry 4 44 20     5 6       3 6 (31) ¥     (93) ¥ 12.1
geometric Mean 2.00 10.18 23.24 2.00 3.16 2.99 2.45 5.31 2.88 2.29 2.06 9.11 6.28 19.34 3.16 4.53  

(¥) other date

(§) 1/2 Mile (Beckman) replaced South Fork Aug 2018

(*)Primary Contact Maximum :-

B.C. provincial standard for recreation with most of the body in the water and risk of ingestion (e.g. swimming).
The B.C. standard was raised to match the Canadian standard, a count of 200/100mL.
Both references speak of the geometric mean of several samples, as opposed to single-sample maximum. The standards quoted here are for the geometric mean, a lower maximum than allowed by a single sample result.

Cherry Total Nitrogen

  Total Nitrogen mg/L
 
November 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 gMean
North Fork 0.140 <0.050 0.167 0.105 0.206 0.159 0.104 <0.05 <0.05 0.334 0.157 <0.05 <0.05 0.106 0.092 0.146
South Fork > 1/2 Mile (§) 0.160 0.088 0.279 0.120 0.138 0.162 0.103 0.159 <0.05 <0.05 <0.05 <0.05 <0.05 0.051 0.062 0.118
N. Fork at Junction 0.070 0.093                           0.081
S. Fork at Junction 0.190 0.065                           0.111
Mid Cherry     0.181 0.100 0.182 0.180 0.151 <0.05 <0.05 0.249 0.099 0.132 0.197 0.044 0.152 0.139
Lower Cherry 0.160 0.117   0.179 0.138 0.139         0.071         0.129
geometric Mean 0.14 0.09 0.20 0.12 0.16 0.16 0.12 0.16 #VALUE! 0.29 0.10 0.13 0.20 0.06 0.10  
August                                
North Fork 0.210 <0.050 0.097 0.085 0.106 0.082 0.189 0.228 <0.05 0.108 0.065 0.135 <0.05 0.104 0.094 0.116
South Fork > 1/2 Mile (§) 0.250 <0.050 0.059 0.149 0.086 0.054 0.053 0.124 <0.05 <0.05 <0.05 0.092 <0.05 <0.05 0.111 0.096
N. Fork at Junction 0.270 <0.050                           0.270
S. Fork at Junction 0.340 <0.050                           0.340
Mid Cherry     0.132 0.188 0.078 0.050 0.093 0.072 <0.05 <0.05 <0.05 0.127 <0.05 0.091 0.170 0.103
Lower Cherry 0.290 <0.050   0.110 0.097 0.066       <0.05         <0.05 0.120
geometric Mean 0.27 0 0.09 0.13 0.09 0.06 0.10 0.13 0 0.11 0.07 0.12 0 0.10 0.12  
May (freshet)                                
North Fork 0.290 0.155 0.167 0.284 0.281 0.231 0.355 0.239 0.238 0.143 0.143 0.197 0.087 0.143 0.202 0.198
South Fork > 1/2 Mile (§) 0.290 0.266 0.227 0.417 0.340 0.432 0.208   0.164 0.104 0.074 0.105 0.080 0.062 0.111 0.170
N. Fork at Junction 21.000 0.160                           1.833
S. Fork at Junction 0.340 0.217                           0.272
Mid Cherry     0.291 0.309 0.357 0.185 0.058 0.242 0.207 0.123 0.334 0.318 0.159 0.267 0.465 0.228
Lower Cherry 0.320 0.210   0.264 0.442 0.183           (0.155) ¥       0.246
geometric Mean 0.72 0.20 0.22 0.31 0.35 0.24 0.16 0.24 0.20 0.12 0.15 0.18 0.10 0.13 0.22  

§ 1/2 Mile replaced South Fork Aug 2018

¥ other date

(yellow) Total Nitrogen not available; showing Nitrate as N